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Inventory — Workflow

Overview

The Inventory module has two separate workflow models:

  • Products follows the standard catalog lifecycle (no pipeline).
  • Inventory Management has two distinct flows: an outflow request pipeline and an inventory entry process tied to purchase orders.

Note

For the standard catalog lifecycle and SARA pipeline model, see: Workflows & Pipelines

Products — Catalog lifecycle

Products follow a simple ACTV ↔ INAC lifecycle. There is no approval pipeline.

  • ACTV — Active. The product is available for purchase orders, inventory entries, and outflow requests.
  • INAC — Inactive. The product is hidden from selectors and cannot be used in new operations.

Deactivating an attribute variable removes it from the selection list when receiving stock, but does not affect existing inventory records that already use that variable combination.

Info

For system-wide status guidance, see: Status

Inventory Management — Outflow request pipeline

An outflow request (OIR.XXXX) represents a request by a project or department for stock to be issued from inventory.

Statuses

Status Meaning
PEND Pending — request submitted, awaiting review by an administrator
PEND-READY Ready — administrator has approved and marked the request ready; email sent to requester
REJC Rejected — administrator rejected the request; reserved inventory is returned to available stock
CANC Cancelled — requester cancelled the request

Pipeline flow

PEND → PEND-READY (administrator marks ready → email sent to requester)
PEND → REJC       (administrator rejects → reserved stock returned)
PEND / PEND-READY / REJC → CANC (requester cancels their own request)

Creating a request: Any user with the inventory management permission can create an outflow request. They select a destination (project or department), a budget line, and the items needed (product, attributes, quantity, preferred location). On creation the request status is PEND.

Reviewing a request: An administrator opens the Review action on any pending request. From the review modal they can mark the request as Ready (status → PEND-READY) or Reject it (status → REJC). Rejection returns any reserved inventory quantities back to available stock.

Editing and resubmitting: A requester can edit their own REJC request to update items and resubmit. The request returns to PEND for administrator review.

Cancelling: The original requester can cancel their own request if it is in PEND, PEND-READY, or REJC. Cancellation releases any reserved stock.

Note

The PEND-READY status (stored as id 28 in status_catalog) serves as the administrator's approval action. There is no separate final "delivered" status in the system — dispatching the items to the requester is handled operationally outside the system.

Inventory Management — Inventory entry from POs

Stock enters the system through purchase orders. When a PO is received in the Purchasing module, its items appear in the Inventory Entry tab in Inventory Management.

Entry flow

  1. A purchase order is received (in the Purchasing module).
  2. The received PO items appear in the Inventory Entry tab.
  3. An administrator selects one or more items, clicks Add to inventory, and assigns each item to a warehouse location with a quantity.
  4. The items are recorded in the inventory table at the specified location.
  5. When the total entered quantity matches the originally requested quantity on the PO item, the item's entry status is updated to reflect full receipt.

Warning

Stock can only be entered into active warehouse locations. Ensure the target location exists and is in ACTV status before receiving goods. See: Warehouse

Setup & dependencies

  • Products must exist before any inventory entries or outflow requests can be created.
  • Warehouse locations must be configured and active before stock can be entered. See: Warehouse
  • Purchase orders must be received in the Purchasing module before items appear in the Inventory Entry tab.

Notifications

When an administrator marks an outflow request as ready (PEND-READY), SARA sends an email notification to the requester informing them that their request has been approved and is ready for pickup. Administrators can manually resend this notification using the Send notification row action.

Info

For general notification behavior, see: Notifications & Alerts

Permissions

Permissions

Access and actions are permission-driven. See: Permissions